I’ve added a new skill to my creative toolkit that will help me in many aspects of my photography business. It’s a shooting skill. It’s a post-processing skill. It’s a customer service skill. It’s even a skill I can apply to family life.

I didn’t learn this new skill from reading a book, attending a workshop, or having coffee with Anna Kuperberg or Laurence Kim.

My new skill wasn’t free, however. It cost me about $1100 and came with an important lesson. Before I illuminate my golden nugget skill, allow me to paint the background.

A honest story

I often get lost. As former National Geographic map maker, getting lost has never concerned me. I usually call it exploring. However, when I get lost and become a little scared, that’s when I get concerned and ask for directions.

Most of my distractions result from trying to do too much in search of the gold star. You see I love those types of kudos, affirmation I am on the right track. That innate sense of calm helps to push through busy days, tugged and ragged.

It’s easy to understand the saying, “Learn to say no.” Following that wisdom is a journey of a million miles, filled with mapless roads.

An expensive lesson

I got an email that made me toss and turn all night. The clients got their album, loved the quality… but the version printed was the draft version, not the final version we spent hours revising. I uploaded the wrong design which had more spreads than they paid for, but was missing key images. And since the parent albums were clone designs, they were printed wrong, too. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

On the verge of tears, I reminded myself: Worse things in life can happen.

I apologized and assured the client they would receive the reprinted albums without charge, expedited. On me, ballpark $1100. Client wrote back:

You’re amazing. Your apology is very much accepted and we are excited to get the new album!  🙂  Last year was a whirlwind of a year for all of us, so I understand! You’ve accomplished in a year what some don’t do over a lifetime.  We’re envious! To your point, slowing down and taking it all in is something I have to tell myself to do at times as well.  🙂 

To my point: Last year I took on too much. Too much travel. Too many shoots, editing. Too much blogging. Too many wedding albums to finalize. In addition, I sold my home, moved my growing photography business from Minneapolis from Denver, yet still continued teaching workshops, shooting weddings, planning a wedding, traveling 30,000 miles, keeping fit, and trying to meet new friends. I found myself getting lost. I point the finger to blame at myself

My new skill?

Most simply: slowing down.

McDonalds works in a pinch, but nothing beats a fine dinner with thoughtful preparation savored with friends.

In photography, slowing down means composing carefully before clicking {shooting Medium Format helps a lot}. Slowing down the number of wedding commissions I accept each year {saying ‘no’ to the not-so-perfect client}. It’s slowing down the process needed to create my work {2-3 solid days to wrap up a wedding}.

In the last 3 months, slowing down has allowed me actually to get ahead. So much so, I’m proud to say all my 2012 client edits have been edited, blogged, slideshow completed and online gallery live within 7 days from the wedding. Feels great! And I plan on continuing the process.

My Reward

I’ve imagined shooting at Mono Lake, CA since I read Ken Rockwell’s, It’s Not About Your Camera. His piece still fires up the same folks glued to forums comparing 14-bit vs 16-bit depth and debates over if AA filters decrease camera resolution, yada yada. More importantly, he took a photo of Mono Lake and wrote about his success at being at the right place at the right time. Slowing down affords this opportunity more than running and gunning.

I did just that. In between teaching a four-day workshop and shooting a wedding, I blocked off time to head to Mono Lake, CA to shoot sunrise and sunset, with a field trip to Yosemite National Park to photograph landscapes. I brought along my PhaseOne 645 w/ P30+ with a 80mm f/2.8 LS lens and tripod. I went solo, listened to music, and explored. Such luxury. Normally, I’m balancing the golden-hour with supper time. Or driving 80mph to reach the sunset destination only to find my vantage point was in the shade. Not this time. I could pull off on the side of the road, wait 15 minutes for the perfect cloud pattern, *click*, the move on. I have to admit, as a social butterfly on the road, I did get lonely not being able to share the experience. However, I was able to make a friend or two, especially those huddled around the sacred spots in Yosemite photographer’s love to poach (I avoided the scenic pullouts for the most part).

Here are a few from a day of shooting personal work in the landscape-genre:

Waited 30 minutes for this shot… follow the shadow to Yosemite Falls with 2 parallel clouds in background:.

Not from Yosemite… but Maui:

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If you are interested in articles on shooting medium format digital, you’ll enjoy :
Pros and Cons of shooting Medium Format Digital

12 Commandments of shooting MF Digital

Studio comparisons of Nikon DSLR and PhaseOne

Shooting tethered with CaptureOne in a studio